Villagers allege forgery in muster roll, demand probe

Keonjhar, September 8 (Odisha.in) Residents of a village in Orissa’s Keonjhar district Friday alleged that they have been shown on government record of getting remuneration for working in a government construction project in which they did not work.

The local administration claimed that it spent Rs. three lakh on the construction of a road from Tolodihi to Banspal village under national Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGA).

Although one person from each of families has worked in the project government record they alleged shows that it provided works to every member of the village families.

I have alone worked in the said project but in job card they have mentioned my wife Masuri Pradhan and son Bhimasena Pradhan’s name and have shown that each of our family has been paid Rs. 840 which is totally false” a villager Ghasinath Pradhan alleged.

Another villager Chintamani Dehury alleged that he worked in the said work but his daughter Anjali Dehury’s name also included in the job card and record shows that payment has been made to her.

It also shows my wife’s name Surya who never did the work” Dehury said.

As if it was not enough. Government record shows a handicapped girl Guru Karjee who was unable to work has worked in the project and has received payment. Similarly Bhimasena Pradhan a student who is reading at state capital Bhubaneswar have been shown on government record as one of the workers in the project.

The villagers exposed these irregularity in a meeting held at Banspal gram panchayat The meeting was attended by Assistant Project Director Manomahan Patra, local Sarapanch and other officials of the district.

The villagers also alleged that more than 50 laborers have not received their wages in full even if they worked on the project months ago.Job card that contains wrong informationThere were no such irregularities in the work and the Village leader may have done this.” Village level worker (VLW) Laxmi Dei Sharma told Odisha.in.

But the village leader VLL a local tribal man Sadhaba Karjee alleged “the VLW has done all these irregularities. We only carry out her instruction” he alleged. We demand a probe into the irregularities, the villagers said.

I am happy that the transparency we have brought in the system is working. We are posting all information online starting from work given to persons, detail about the work and amount paid to them, state Panchayati Raj department commissioner cum secretary R.N.Dash told Odisha.in.

It is difficult for the government to check with each and every beneficiary of the scheme. Since every thing is transparent people can check every thing from the website and complains if there are any irregularities.

Orissa is the first state in the country to post all information in website, he said. People are able to collect the information and able to cross check if the benefit government has provided to them are reaching them or not, he said. This is the real empowerment of people, he said. We will inquire into this irregularity and take appropriate action, he said.